IFEX Latin American & Caribbean Alliance

Since its presentation before parliament, the debate on the “Law on Control, Regulation, Performance and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organisations” has been stigmatising in nature, depicting civil society organisations as “enemies of the country.”

Freedom of expression organisations demand the immediate release of the Ticay and the suspension of the recent constitutional reforms linked to the crime of “treason”, which can be used against critics or opponents of the regime.

Fourteen organizations call for justice in Zamora’s case and respect for the rule of law

The government of Daniel Ortega continues escalating its criminalisation of journalists in Nicaragua, in an attempt to achieve a news blackout. The arrest, imprisonment and charges against journalist Víctor Ticay in May 2023, are yet another sign of the social, cultural, and political crisis taking place in the country due to the systematic violation of human rights.

We call on authorities to respect and protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press as necessary conditions to guarantee democracy and the legitimacy of the electoral process.

IFEX and IFEX-ALC are expressing their solidarity with ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America after an escalation in threats against the organisation by Mexico’s president.

Periodistas Sin Cadenas, Voces del Sur, Red Leal and IFEX-ALC strongly condemn the serious press freedom and freedom of expression violations that have taken place recently in Ecuador. As a result of these violations, two journalists have been forced into exile within the first few months of 2023.

The ACM and IFEX-ALC stands in solidarity with journalists Davina Bagot, Nazima Raghubir, Tamica Garnett and other media workers in Guyana in their quest to perform their duties freely.

We call on the international community to actively support all efforts to prevent this and other similar legislation from proliferating in the region

As conditions worsen for the practice of journalism in the region, civil society organizations have identified four worrying trends.

The IFEX-ALC network urges the government of Bolivia to defend and guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of the press; and to refrain from using the state’s power to pressure or penalize media outlets, as is happening with the Cochabamba newspaper Los Tiempos.

The international organizations that promote the defense and protection of human rights and, in particular, freedom of expression, condemn the arbitrary detention for political purposes of the prominent journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder and president of the newspaper elPeriódico, who is being persecuted in retaliation for his investigative work on corruption and other issues of public interest in Guatemala.

The bill under discussion, if passed, could seriously affect freedom of expression and result in a direct departure by the Uruguayan state from its international human rights commitments.

Over a dozen human and civil rights organizations have called for the immediate release of Cuban artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel “Osorbo” Pérez, who stood trial on May 30 and 31 on trumped-up charges and have been detained since the summer of 2021.